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How Gen Z is Leading the World Towards a Cashless Society

December 5, 2017

Gen Z may already be far more tech-savvy than millennials will ever be. Their latest disruption? Cash.

While plastic cards have been moving money around the world for awhile, Shiv Singh, Visa’s Senior Vice President of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, tells Cheddar that Gen Z is more likely to spend their bucks digitally. He says they are also more likely to use messaging platforms, such as China’s WeChat, to make transactions.

“They expect all of their payments … to happen in a Facebook messaging type of environment,” Singh said. “The amount of payment volume on WeChat itself has grown dramatically in the last twelve months.”

Singh foresees that this trend will “explode” around the world. Facebook recently jumped on board and announced that it’s integrating advertisements in its Messenger app. The move aims to facilitate purchases and communication between consumers and companies.

Singh says that all of these efforts are only the beginning of a cashless society. The executive adds that the first step towards a cashless society is waving contactless cards, like Apple Pay. The company projects that contactless payments will grow dramatically in the U.S. over the next two years.

Singh points out that 40 percent of the POS terminals are ready for contactless payments in the U.S.. “Now,” he says, “it’s all about educating the consumers, and putting the right technology in their hands.”